The present invention relates to an automated measuring scale that can be used to either measure given dimensions or to layout dimensions in a drafting process.
Electronic scaling devices which partially automate the process of making measurements that would customarily be performed manually with a ruler are known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,095,273 and 4,195,348 are examples of two such prior art devices. Another U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,703 illustrates an electronic drafting device that can be conveniently attached to a commercial drafting machine to make measurements on drawings.
The prior art devices, however, are displaced or moved manually to record or layout the dimensions in question, and electronic portions of the devices determine the amount of displacement and reveal that amount in a digital or other display. With the availability of microcircuit components, the development of a fully automated measuring device that can be conveniently manipulated on drawings, charts and the like is now feasible.
It is accordingly a general object of the present invention to provide a fully automated measuring scale that responds to displacement commands and produces those commands by automatically displacing a marker index by the commanded amount.